Showcase for craft-brew Corsican beers

4 Brasserie Pietra, an independent family-run brewery based in Corsica, is showcasing its beers — including the unique, chestnut-flavoured Pietra beer — at the Speciality & Fine Foods Fair, at Olympia, London.

Following its success in Corsica and mainland France, Brasserie Pietra has expanded into Italy, which is now its main export market, and Switzerland. It is now developing its business in new markets, primarily the UK and the USA. In the UK its beers are already available in Waitrose.

Pietra and Colomba — the company’s two flagship products — are served in Raymond Blanc’s chain of five brasseries, in Le Petit Blanc and at Chez Gérard, as well as selected other UK restaurants. There have even been orders for Pietra and Colomba from Buckingham Palace.

Brasserie Pietra, which is located in the Corsican village of Furiani, was founded in 1996 by Dominique Sialelli, with his wife Armelle. The brewery was named after Pietraserena in Upper Corsica (Dominique Sialelli’s hometown), which also gave its name to the first beer brewed at the site – Pietra, which is made from chestnuts. In Corsica, the chestnut is traditionally used as a cereal and the chestnut tree is even known as the ‘bread tree’.

In 1998, Brasserie Pietra expanded its range with a pure-malt blond beer, Serena. One year later, Colomba, a white beer flavoured with herbs from the maquis, was launched.

Ten years on, Brasserie Pietra’s products have become an integral part of the Corsican economy. The company now has 35 employees, and plans to expand further to employ a total of 50.

In 1996, Brasserie Pietra produced 2,300 hectolitres and had a turnover of €304,000. In 2006, Brasserie Pietra produced 32,000 hectolitres and had a turnover of €7,800,000.

Pietra is a hand-crafted beer that is brewed with a blend of selected malts, hops and chestnuts. The chestnuts are handpicked in the Castagniccia forest (in Upper Corsica). As the forest is remote and parts of it are inaccessible by car, some of the chestnuts are carried down by donkeys to the nearest village, where the chestnuts are ground into flour.

FINDING PIETRA IN THE UK
Brasserie Pietra’s beers are currently distributed in the UK by James Clay & Sons of West Yorkshire. They are also available by mail order from: www.beersofeurope.co.uk

Pietra has a long fermentation period (two weeks) in a temperature-controlled room. The beer is brewed to 6% alcohol volume — using traditional and artisan methods — with selected malts and Corsican sweet chestnut flour.

The chestnut, which is mixed into the malt during mashing, is used as a prime ingredient, and not just as a flavouring. This unique blend gives it a strong yet delicate character, with low bitterness. Pietra should be served chilled at a temperature of 6°C to 8°C.

Colomba is a traditional white beer of 5% ABV, brewed from barley and wheat and flavoured with herbs from the maquis — the dense scrubland that covers the hills and mountains of Corsica’s wild hinterland. Unfiltered and bottom-fermented, Colomba is naturally cloudy.

A delicate blend of strawberry, myrtle and juniper is prepared in a large tea-ball and left to infuse in the tank while cooking the wort — this gives Colomba a very special flavour and scent. Like Pietra, Colomba has a fermentation period of two weeks in a temperature-controlled room, and should be served chilled at 6°C to 8°C.

September 3, 2007